Baten Kaitos Origins

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Baten Kaitos Origins
Baten Kaitos Origins Game Box
Developer(s) tri-Crescendo
Monolith Soft
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Designer(s) Yasuyuki Honne
Engine Unique
Platform(s) GameCube
Release date Japan February 23, 2006
United States of America September 25, 2006
Genre(s) RPG
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s) CERO: Ages 12+
ESRB: Teen
Media 2 × GameCube Optical Disc
Input methods Standard GameCube controller

Baten Kaitos Origins (バテン・カイトスII 始まりの翼と神々の嗣子 Baten Kaitosu II: Hajimari no Tsubasa to Kamigami no Shishi?, lit. Baten Kaitos II: Beginning of the Wings and the Heir of the Gods) is a role-playing video game unveiled at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show by Namco and Monolith Soft. The official name was revealed at E3 on May 10, 2006 [1]. It is the second game in the Baten Kaitos series, and a prequel to Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. Unlike the first game (which was published by Namco in Japan and North America) the sequel was published in all regions by Nintendo.[1] It was released on February 23, 2006 in Japan, and was released in North America on September 25, 2006.

Contents

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of characters in Baten Kaitos Origins

[edit] Story

Baten Kaitos Origins takes place 20 years prior to the events of the original Baten Kaitos. The main character, Sagi, works for the Alfard Empire in an elite unit, the Dark Service, that reports directly to a powerful politician, Lord Baelheit. He is joined by Guillo, who, while resembing a Paramachina, or mechanized puppet, is actually sentient and animated by magic. At the start of the game, the unit is given a dubious assignment to assassinate Emperor Olgan, although the ultimate source of the order is unclear. Before the two have a chance to actually carry out or reflect on the morality of this act, Olgan is killed by a third party. Blamed for the murder, Sagi and Guillo are then forced to flee. During their escape, they encounter a giant beast called an Umbra, which Guillo has been mysteriously programmed to defeat. While trying to leave the city, they meet up with the third member of the party, a young woman named Milly. The three of them must work to clear Sagi's name while trying to uncover the nature of the threat caused by the maneuvering of Alfard's various power-hungry politicians, as they work under Alfard's Quaestor Verus.

The overall theme is that of a struggle between pro-magination (the power of hearts, wings of the heart, and magic) and pro-machination (mechanical) forces.

The main enemy in Baten Kaitos Origins eventually turns out to be a being named Wiseman, a sorcerer with a thirst to turn every being in the world into pure Magnus. As Sagi, Milly and Guillo go back and forth between the present and a "dream world", they eventually discover the reason why the evil god Malpercio was created. Near the end of the game, it is revealed that the spirit which the player actually plays is connected to that world, and that Sagi is not a spiriter at all, but is instead part of the Empire's malideiter project. This came about as a result of experiments which Lord Baelheit was ordered to perform on behalf of Emperor Olgan in an effort to create artificial spiriters, rivaling their power with Malpercio's afterlings. Although the experiments were ultimately abandoned after a mishap, the test subjects were released still containing pieces of Malpercio. Years later, while stopping the maniacal plots of the politicians, Sagi learns of his true nature and must attempt to reach equilibrium with the being inside him or risk certain death.

Slightly later in the tale, Milly's true intentions are revealed, as well as her past, and connection to Baelheit. Near the ending, Baelheit also reveals that Milly is half-Machina; when she was just a child, a failed experiment (along the lines of the one which created Sagi's "spirit") tore her in half and killed her mother. With the help of his own guardian spirit, Baelheit managed to revive Milly using Machina.

Perhaps one of the greatest obstacles encountered during the quest is the Machina Vanguard, consisting of three high-ranking Mintaken officers who report to Lord Balheit. They hold the power of Machina Armas, the strongest weapons in Machina warfare, and thwart the plans of Sagi and his comrades several times over the course of the adventure. However, after joining powers with the force inside him, Sagi acquires immense strength. With this strength, he is finally able to defeat the Machina Vanguard that were pro-machinating each of the floating continents. He then sets off to defeat Baelheit once and for all. In the interim, though, Baelheit finishes construction on a huge flying fortress built completely out of machina called Tarazed. He orders that everyone move onto the fortress, as he intends to destroy the continents. Verus orders Sagi to stop Baelheit, and although Sagi does so, an even more surprising twist is then revealed, which ties Wiseman together with the guise that was behind all of the events that occurred, beginning with Olgan's assassination. It eventually leads to Tarazed's collapse.

In a mad panic, Sagi, Milly and Guillo flee, trying to escape, eventually succeeding, but through sacrifice. The final flight is further aided by defeated villains, Nasca, Heughes and Valara, all of whom do their part in helping the party to escape (although this depends on previous player decisions in sparing their lives).

When Sagi and Milly return to Alfard, the two have a happy reunion with all of their past friends and the various rulers of the continents. Finally, Sagi and Milly decide to elope and move to Mira. Sagi and the power within decide that they will be together forever, and wherever life takes them (although this depends on the choice of the player as well). The last screen is a picture of a baby, and although many things hint to this baby being Kalas (as only one wing is visible), others theorize that this is instead Melodia, mostly because Kalas was a failed attempt at the creation of the divine child by Georg. In addition, Milly's dress and hair style is similar to the way Melodia's, and her hair color is the same as Sagi's, hinting that Sagi and Milly are Melodia's parents at the end of the game when they go to live in Mira (Melodia's home). Another theory suggests that they are the parents of Trill, a childhood friend of Kalas.

[edit] Gameplay

Unlike many role-playing games, this series uses a relatively unique mechanism based on card-battling in order to resolve combat. In fact, almost everything in the game is stored on magical Magnus cards. Rather than equipping characters with weapons and armor, these are drawn from the deck during battles and equipped only temporarily. Hence, equipment and even attack types exist as cards, rather than as statistics associated with the characters. Because of this, many of the game's quests provide new Magnus cards as rewards, which can then be incorporated into decks as needed.

One difference when compared to the first game is the number of playable characters; while the first game offered six playable characters, Baten Kaitos Origins offers only three: Sagi, Guillo, and Milliarde (nicknamed Milly).

There is also a major difference in the battle system from the way it functioned in Baten Kaitos. Instead of each character having their own deck of Magnus cards, all characters use cards from a single deck and play from a single hand. Since most armor, weapons, and special attacks are specific to a given character, there are frequently times when one or two of the characters has only a very limited number of options. Because of this streamlining, the game focuses primarily on increasingly-numbered card combos, instead of some of the more elaborate combinations that were possible in Baten Kaitos. Nonetheless, it is possible for one to maintain separate decks (such as a fire based deck, a heal-heavy deck, etc.) and to then switch to the appropriate deck as needed between fights.

As before, the game uses a separate Quest Magnus mechanism which allows various key items to be stored on blank cards. These items can be used at the appropriate time, or can be combined using a Magnus Mixer. In many cases, the quest Magnus cards age and decay over time. For example, pristine water slowly becomes drinking water, which then becomes stale water. Battle Magnus can be "upgraded" by being combined with proper quest magnus. For example, the battle magnus "Saber", can be combined with the quest magnus "Blaze" to create a stronger battle magnus known as "Fire Saber". In contrast to the previous game, the Battle Magnus cards which make up the combat decks don't decay or change over time.

The game also features several new locales, such as Sedna, a town that looks like it's made of childish clay sculptures, and Hassaleh, a new continent that didn't appear in the first game. Sedna is composed of different Magnus pieces which, as the player discovers and returns with the appropriate Magnus cards, spontaneously appear. As the town grows, the player can then interact with the new inhabitants.

[edit] Music

Main article: Baten Kaitos: Origins Original Soundtrack

[edit] Voice credits


[edit] References

  1. ^ G4 - Reviews - Baten Kaitos Origins. G4. Retrieved on 2006-11-08.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links